I am planning a vacation to Fort Lauderdale in April with a few buddies and had a few questions. My first question is what kind of water temps to expect and what thickness of wet suit will i need? i am use to diving in the cold waters of the north east and expect my 7mm farmer john to me overkill.
I suspect it will be overkill. I haven't been there in April, but have been there in February and in May. In February, water temps were in the 68-70 range, with air temps in the 77-80 degree range. In May of the same year (2010), water temps were up to the 77-79 degree range, with air temps in the upper 80s.
diverdude74:
My next question is can anyone recommend any dive spots we should check out?
There are a number of reefed wrecks in the area. One of the popular ones, at least for us tourist types, is the Capt. Dan. Very relaxing dive at ~100+ft., generally good visibility, relatively short boat ride from the dock (depending, of course, on what charter op you use). I have done a number of other reefed wrecks in the area (Rodeo 25, Guy Harvey), but most of them are somewhat deeper (120-140) than you probably want to go. My personal favorite is the Hydro Atlantic, but's that's a technical dive down at ~165' to the sand. There are also reefs along the coast in that area, such as Touchdown (
Touchdown Reef: Fort Lauderdale Diving Sites), and Sharks Ledge (
Local Diving) which are shallow, relatively easy dives.
diverdude74:
and what dive shops would you recommend?
There are a number of operations in the area. When you refer to 'shops', do you literally mean shops where you can buy / rent gear and get fills, or charter operations with boats? There are quite a few shops in the general area, and you can talk to 10 people and get 20 different, good recommendations. I can't say I have a broad experience, simply because we tend to use 1-2 when we are there. For example, I have used the Scuba School and Dive Center in Lauderdale, in the past, with good results (they are a shop, with charter connections). In particular, among shops I would mention Dive Gear Express / Fill Express up the road a few miles in Pompano Beach, which I highly recommend for gear as well as fills (if you want to see what a well-organized, high volume fill station looks like, you should go there just for the experience). As for charters, I have used Conrad Nix (
Welcome to Miss Conduct Dive Charters) several times, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Smaller boat, great guy. And, his webpage has information on a BUNCH of dive sites in the area.